Why use radio communications for local events and emergencies?
First responders have long relied on radio communications rather than cell phones or other forms of communication. Neighborhoods and larger communities can also use radio communications to great advantage. Let's first look at the characteristics of radio communication.
The primary difference between two way radios vs. cell phones is who and how many individuals you can communicate with at once. A phone is primarily a one-to-one communication device, whereas two way radios are one-to-many communication devices.
Radio communication starts when you press the push-to-talk (PTT) button and doesn’t require an available infrastructure system and dialing sequence.
Radios work without external dependencies such as public power, cell phone systems, and cellphone capacity. Radios will work in remote locations not covered by cellular systems.
Radios have repeatedly proven to be more resilient to downtime than electricity and cellular networks. They don’t need cellular towers to transmit short-range audio in real time, and its range can be substantially expanded with repeaters. A repeater receives a signal, and re-transmits it so that two devices can communicate over greater distances or around obstructions (including the curvature of the Earth). When hooked up to a backup power system, they can help keep channels of communication up and running throughout a crisis. This resiliency allows groups to be able to carry out their designated emergency response action plans, keep users informed, and safe.
Radios typically have double/triple the battery life of a mobile phone, and radio batteries can be swapped out with spares when charging is inconvenient or unavailable..
The most common radios used are Amateur (Ham) VHF/UHF, GMRS UHF, and FRS UHF. FRS can be used license free but also has the least capability in terms of both range and communication modes. GMRS requires a “no test” license which covers an extended family and requires registration and a fee every ten years. Amateur VHF/UHF requires a Technician class license (or above) which requires both an initial test and a fee every ten years. The amateur license covers the licensee only. There are single day Amateur radio Technician classes followed by the test which are very successful in getting you a license in a single day.
The national, regional, and local governments rely on amateur radio volunteers for backup communications utilizing ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) organizations that provide extensive training and operational support. Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and neighborhood organizations tend to use Amateur, GMRS, and FRS radios.
Radio equipped team members can quickly deploy and provide reporting of observed events or complete tasks such as event assistance, search and rescue, amber and silver alert assistance, damage assessment, flood watch, safety and welfare checks, fireworks watch, fire watch, or other community assistance activities.
Radios can provide communications coverage in areas of weak or overloaded cellular coverage, or during Internet and phone outages. Trained ARES/RACES amateur radio operations can provide communications links between different agencies within the community, as well as communications between the cities and county emergency services personnel. CERT teams can communicate within the neighborhood, between neighborhoods, and with the local City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) using GMRS or amateur radio.
Radio equipped volunteers gain greater situational awareness by monitoring others' communication. Volunteer leaders are able to remotely direct activities, respond to volunteer resources requests, and better track their in-field teams. The broadcast nature of radio allows immediate full team updates.
The use of radio for regular community events provides communication training and practice, improving your volunteers ability to help with communications during an emergency. Activities such as parade coordination, fireworks watch, distributed eyes and ears for local event monitoring, and related activities provide communications experience, radio usage practice, and greater user confidence in the actual use of their radio.
Gilroy and Morgan Hill CERT organizations provide emergency preparedness training which includes introductory radio communications, and they include radio communications in their periodic training drills and local activations for helping with local events or responding to emergencies.
Gilroy and Morgan Hill have amateur radio ARES/RACES teams that work with the local city and county jurisdictions, providing training to radio operators as well as staffing for events and emergency response. The local city ARES/RACES team organizes and coordinates the radio communications activities of CERT including providing radio training.
Santa Clara County’s ARES/RACES organization offers one of the best-in-class training programs for amateur radio operators, and provides extensive training resources on their website. https://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm
The ARRL provides an array of resources for individuals interested in amateur radio or just radio communications in general. http://www.arrl.org/licensing-education-training